About Accademia del Giglio

Why AdG?

Since 1995 Accademia del Giglio is a private school which is specifically aimed at helping international students to gain proficiency in the Italian language, understand the many aspects of Italian culture, as well as learn several drawing and painting techniques.

– Accademia del Giglio has received the “European Label 2007”. This Label is awarded each year to the most innovative language learning projects in the European Union. The Label is coordinated by the European Commission, and managed by the Ministry of Labour and the Ministry of Education.

AdG school also co-operated in the past with the Italian Language department of the American university Bard College (please find a letter of presentation for our school, written by Professor Joseph Luzzi, from Bard College).

– has been producing, since 2006, educational material for the official blog of the school, adgblog.it, one of the most important and most visited blogs in Italy for teachers and students of Italian as second language (over 350.000 visitors and more than 1.000.000 page views per year).

– contributed to Itals bulletins, official bulletin of theUniversity Ca’ Foscari of Venice (June 2007, September 2007 and June 2008).

– wrote several texts of Italian as a second language for learning objects and podcasts, edited by Progetto TRIO, the web learning portal of Regione Toscana.

Letter written by Professor Joseph Luzzi, from Bard College.

Dear Colleagues:

It is my pleasure to write a letter of support on behalf of the Accademia del Giglio (…). I have worked closely with the administrators of the Accademia-Cecilia Pontenani, Lorenzo Capanni, and Roberto Balò (…) and I can say that this collaboration has been one of the most productive and enjoyable of my professional life. The Accademia del Giglio has been the site since January 2004 for our Bard-in-Florence program, an intensive immersion in the study of Italian that incorporates course work in language, literature, culture, art history, music, and film. My students take this intensive one-month, multifaceted course at the Accademia after completing the equivalent of a one-year intensive Italian language program in the United States at Bard College; upon successful completion of their course work at the Accademia del Giglio, my students receive four academic credits (the equivalent of a complete university course) that are then transferable to Bard College.

The academic and personal benefits of the Accademia del Giglio’s program have been immeasurable for my students. Many of them come to Italy never having traveled abroad, let alone having been in Italy, and the caring, attentive, and thoroughly professional guidance of the Accademia del Giglio staff helps ease their transition to life abroad and prepare them for what many of my students describe as one of their most rewarding academic experiences. When taking my students to study at the Accademia, I immediately notice that the interdisciplinary approach to language teaching at the Accademia–which utilizes a multitude of media and other contemporary forms of expression–deeply improves the Italian skills of my students in their conversation, reading, and writing. The Accademia also makes extensive use of the city of Florence itself as a “classroom,” for my students visit many museums, churches, and monuments as part of their studies, especially in art history. Overall, I am impressed by the innovative and progressive curriculum of the Accademia and its accomplished roster of local Florentine faculty members, who teach my students not just the usual canonical aspects of Italian culture but also include to great effect the study of specialized subjects in a host of fields ranging from language and literature to music and cinema. Moreover, the Accademia goes to great lengths to organize informative weekend excursions and events for my students, including day trips to local museums and sites in Lucca and Siena as well as visits to historical abbeys and churches in the Tuscan countryside. All in all, my students and I have been immensely satisfied by both the high and exacting academic standards that the Accademia maintains while simultaneously providing its students with an unforgettable journey through both the storied past and the vibrant contemporary culture of Florence, Tuscany, and Italy.

As I have endeavored to convey in this letter, the Accademia del Giglio is a place that combines a thorough commitment to excellence in teaching with an energetic devotion to making the Florentine experience of its students and colleagues as memorable as possible. Based on this extensive professional contact and collaboration of mine with the Accademia, I recommend it most strongly to you (…).